105th Congress

Commentary by Pete du Pont

January 10, 1997

Host intro: Before he was a governor and presidential candidate, commentator Pete du Pont of the National Center for Policy Analysis served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, he has some suggestions for the new 105th Congress.

This Congress has a unique opportunity. Without election pressures, a two-term presidency's fifth year is the only time in a political cycle significant changes can be made to fundamental policies.

Here's what Congress should do.

First, bury notion that Washington's the font of all wisdom. Embrace the Jeffersonian vision that government's first goal is enhancing individual liberty, not enforcing equality.

Next, the tax and regulatory burden on every American family averages $30,000 yearly. Reducing both can increase our growth rate, which languishes at 2.5 percent.

Tax reduction, eliminating capital gains and installing a flat rate tax will help solve an even bigger problem: the stagnation of productivity.

Congress should end race and gender preferences, encourage school choice scholarships and charter schools, permit individual IRAs for investing one's social security taxes, and turn welfare responsibilities over to private charities, funded by tax-credited voluntary contributions.

Finally, Congress should stop the greatest threat to representative democracy: the courts' seizure of the people's authority and that of their elected representatives. From ignoring state constitutions to overturning voter initiatives, courts have simply -- and illegally -- decided to determine what's good for us. Congress needs to make them stop.

Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA, we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you next time.